ADDIS ABABA Ethiopia (Xinhua)
--The Ethiopia Ministry of
Foreign Affairs (MOFA) announced on Monday it has signed
a peace deal with a prominent rebel group Ogaden
National Liberation Front (ONLF), formally ending the
group’s 34 years of insurgency.

In a press
statement, the MOFA said a delegation led by Ethiopian
Foreign Minister Workneh Gebeyehu reached a peace deal
with the ONLF Chairman, Admiral Mohammed Omar Osman in
Eritrean capital, Asmara, allowing ONLF to undertake
peaceful political struggle in Ethiopia.

Formed in
1984, ONLF had been fighting for more than three decades
for the rights of ethnic Somalis living in eastern
Ethiopia to have self-determination rights, including
the option of secession.

The removal
of ONLF from a terror list by the Ethiopian parliament
in July, and the announcement of indefinite unilateral
ceasefire by the rebel group in August facilitated the
resumption of the recent peace talks.

Ethiopia’s
rapid diplomatic thaw with former bitter rival Eritrea
since July also helped turn Eritrea from a chief sponsor
of ONLF to one that is mediating between the two
sides.

The ONLF
made international headlines on April 24, 2007, when it
launched a deadly raid on an oil field. The attack left
74 people dead.

After the
attack the Ethiopian government undertook a vigorous
counterinsurgency campaign.

Ethiopia
also undertook large scale infrastructure projects to
win the hearts of local population who were thought to
be sympathetic to ONLF.

EARLIER REPORTS:

ADDIS ABABA Ethiopia (Xinhua)
-- Ethiopia’s Rio Olympics
silver medalist, Feyisa Lilesa, on Sunday returned home
from exile for the first time since his Rio Olympics
anti-government protest.

Lilesa, who
showed solidarity with Ethiopia’s Oromos protesting
against the Ethiopian government during the 2016 Rio
Olympics, was in exile since the men’s marathon race
during the Olympics. He had demonstrated with
anti-government sign at the race’s finish line.

The
marathoner soon after his anti-government demonstration
ruled out a possible return to the east African country
over fear of potential imprisonment.

Lilesa - who
was welcomed by senior Ethiopian government officials,
fellow athletes and his supporters upon his arrival in
Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa on Sunday - said that
recent peaceful transitions and reform within the
Ethiopian government structure was the major factor for
him to return to his country.

Lilesa
followed hundreds of Ethiopian politicians, human rights
activists as well as journalists who have also returned
home over the past few months following reconciliation
call by Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

Ahmed, who
assumed Ethiopia’s premiership position on April 2, have
been calling all opposition groups, government critics
and others in exile to be part of the country’s ongoing
reform process.

Ahmed’s
administration has been also implementing various
measures aimed at creating a nationwide reconciliation,
which includes the release of high-level political
prisoners, invitation for Ethiopian rebel groups for
talks as well as the decision to normalize relations
with its neighbor Eritrea.

Kassa Kebede,
foreign policy chief of Ethiopia’s former ruling party,
is one among the notable Ethiopians who have returned
home after decades in exile.

Kebede, one
of the top leaders of the Ethiopian Workers’ Party (EWP)
that ruled the East African country for 17 years, has
been in exile for about 27 years since the current
ruling coalition came into power.

Ethiopia’s
armed rebel group Patriotic Ginbot 7 leader, Birhanu
Nega, was also another high-profile opposition figure
who returned home last month after 11 years in exile, to
the cheers of thousands of supporters in the capital
Addis Ababa.

Various
popular Ethiopian rebel groups - such as the Patriotic
Ginbot 7, Oromo Liberation Front and the Ogaden National
Liberation Front - have also similarly declared
ceasefire which was followed by return of their leaders
from exile as Ethiopia’s reform process strengthened
over the past couple of months.

.

Bus-truck collision
leaves 12 dead in northern Ethiopia

ADDIS ABABA Ethiopia (Xinhua)
--Twelve people were killed
in northern Ethiopia on Monday when a passenger bus
collided with a truck, authorities said.

Several
others were injured in the collision, said Mekasha
Tesfaye, chief officer of Road Traffic Study Bureau,
North Shewa zone, Amhara regional state.

He said
North Shewa zone has in recent months witnessed a spate
of traffic accidents. At least 43 people were killed in
three major accidents in the last five months.

Despite
having one of the lowest per capita car ownerships in
the world, deadly traffic accidents in Ethiopia are
common, with blames put on bad roads, a flawed driving
license issuance system and lax enforcement of safety
rules.

Traffic
accidents in the year that ended on July 7 led the death
of 4,500 people.